


Guardians of Memory

by TwilightKnight17



Series: Hours 'Verse [6]
Category: Persona 2, Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: Gen, Timeline Discussions, all the P2 spoilers, this probably won't make sense without the rest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-27 17:06:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12586612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightKnight17/pseuds/TwilightKnight17
Summary: Remembering a dead timeline is a heavy burden. But it's easier once you know that there's someone who's lived through it before. Hamuko finds that someone in another Wild Card from Sumaru City.





	Guardians of Memory

**Author's Note:**

> I have been poking at this for literal weeks please just take it I cannot rewrite anymore. -_-;;; This fits sometime mid-February during Catch Perfect, but as with Shards, it doesn’t matter where, so there is no mention of a date.

The messages came one afternoon from an unknown number, while she and Shinjiro were just relaxing in their room in the dorm. Hamuko’s phone buzzed once, twice, and then continued buzzing insistently at intervals, and they were forced to pause the movie they were watching so she could figure out who was so determined to talk to her. Anyone she would want to talk to was literally downstairs, and none of them were _that_ lazy.

...she hoped, anyway.

> _[Unknown# - 4:46pm] Sorry for texting out of the blue like this, Arisato-chan. It’s Amano Maya, from the Christmas party._
> 
> _[Unknown# - 4:46pm] I’m not sure if you remember me. I know things were...hectic._
> 
> _[Unknown# - 4:47pm] But Kei-san said you’ve been talking to Maki-chan and got me your number, and I had a proposal._
> 
> _[Unknown# - 4:48pm] Would you be opposed to coming to spend a day or two here in Sumaru? I’d really like to talk to you._
> 
> _[Unknown# - 4:49pm] I’d pay for your train ticket, of course._

Hamuko blinked at the phone, and Shinjiro leaned over to see what she was staring at.

“I remember Amano-san, vaguely,” he said. “She looked uncomfortable the whole time we were in the Room, after everything, like she was hurting instead of confused like everyone else. I thought it was kinda weird.”

Hamuko added the number to her contacts so that it would show the name while they were talking, and hesitantly tapped out a reply.

> _[Hamuko - 4:53pm] Why do you want to talk to me?_
> 
> _[Amano-san - 4:54pm] Because I’m the best person to understand your situation. I’m sure Maki-chan’s doing a great job, but this is different._
> 
> _[Amano-san - 4:54pm] And again, I’m sorry for texting out of nowhere, but I got your number and couldn’t help it!_
> 
> _[Hamuko - 4:56pm] By “your situation” you mean Christmas._
> 
> _[Amano-san 4:56pm] Yes. Theodore probably mentioned it, but this has happened before, and, well. It’s easier to have someone that understands._

Hamuko hesitated, glancing at her boyfriend awkwardly. “Should I agree to go?”

“That’s your choice. Might be worth hearing her out.” Shinjiro wrapped an arm around her. “If she knows what this is like, and could help you… It’s been easier for me to adjust, but I know you’re still having a rough time. So do what you think you need to.”

> _[Hamuko - 5:01pm] So if I were to get on a train tomorrow morning…?_
> 
> _[Amano-san - 5:03pm] That would be fine. The good thing about being the boss is approving your own days off. ;D_
> 
> _[Hamuko - 5:05pm] I’ll be there, then._

Amano-san texted her an address and which station she would want to get off at, and Hamuko flopped back on the bed, sighing. “I guess I should tell Minato and Ryoji that I won’t be here tomorrow.”

“Probably.” Shinjiro ruffled her hair roughly. “I’m proud of you for giving her a chance.”

She rolled over, refusing to let him see her uncertain expression. “...I can’t burst into tears every time one of the Shadow Operatives shows up for the rest of my life. I’ve got to fix it somehow. And if she knows how to do that…”

It was worth a shot, at least.

***

Finding the address in Sumaru was easier than she’d thought it would be. A brief stop at an information desk in the train station pointed her in the right direction, and it was a piece of cake to track down the apartment building from there. When she knocked, a tall woman with red hair opened the door, looking her over for a moment before calling over her shoulder, “Mayaaa, your friend is here!” She stepped aside to let Hamuko in, and Hamuko hesitated in the entryway.

The apartment was a mess. There were papers everywhere, and a stack of dishes on the table tall enough that it looked in danger of tipping over. The redheaded woman patted her on the shoulder. “I know, I know, it looks like a bomb went off. I don’t know what Maya was thinking asking you over here. Her apartment’s a perpetual tornado. At least when I lived here, my room was clean.”

“Hey, leave her alone. Don’t you have a job to go to?” Maya came over to greet her, waving the other woman off. She rolled her eyes and shut the door behind her, and Maya smiled apologetically. “That was my friend, Ulala. Don’t mind her.”

Hamuko slipped her shoes off, not making eye contact. “It’s...okay. Thank you for having me, Amano-san.”

“You can call me Maya. We’re all friends here. It’s nice to properly meet you.” She waved Hamuko to follow her into the living room, moving a stack of papers that threatened to slide off the coffee table and sitting down. “Did you have a good trip out?”

“It was pretty easy to find this place, actually,” Hamuko admitted. “Your directions were great. But...can we just talk about what you mentioned? Small talk is great, but… I just want to know what you meant. If you can help me.”

“I understand. It had to be strange, getting messages like that.” She sat back against the couch, smiling. “Do you remember anything about the crisis in Sumaru City? I know you were young.”

Hamuko frowned. “A bit, yeah. That was back in the nineties, wasn’t it? It was on the news for weeks. Something about an attempted government takeover?”

“Ninety-nine,” Maya confirmed. “A few days in early September. And that was the official story, not what really happened. Really, the crisis was just the finale of twenty years of scheming. The important thing, though, is that the core of it was a prior timeline attempting to override this one.”

Hamuko gasped. “That’s what you meant!” she said urgently. “So you’re from another timeline like Shinji and me?”

“Sort of,” Maya said. “I’m...this timeline’s version of myself, but with the memories of the other timeline. It’s essentially the same, but still different. The old timeline ended with the destruction of the world. There were survivors, but...that world has been closed off, just as yours was.” She fidgeted with the fringe of a blanket that had been tossed haphazardly over the arm of the couch. “There are other people who know that the other timeline existed, but the attendants of the Velvet Room and I are the only ones that actually remember anything from the other side.”

“That’s…” Hamuko began, and then hesitated. “How did the two timelines branch off that time?”

Maya told her an abbreviated version of the story, of Jokers and wishes, murders and fires, prophecies and Nazis and dragons and spaceships and the Crawling Chaos born of the evils of humanity. The younger persona-user stared in awe, growing more and more amazed the longer the tale went on. But mostly Maya focused on her friends: the kids she loved like younger siblings and the adults that had fought beside her.

“None of my team from the old timeline remembers anything, now,” Maya said, a touch of melancholy in her voice. “They became friends, after everything was over, but their potential hasn’t awakened in this timeline. It was hard, not being able to talk about things with them. I’m glad, though, because they’re happy! They found each other, despite everything. And Lisa-chan’s still working in showbiz, even after retiring from being an idol, Eikichi-kun’s got his band… Tatsuya-kun’s a police officer and Jun-kun’s a teacher and a gardening enthusiast.” She giggled. “Those two, honestly, I’ve never seen a more solid example of the red string of fate. They didn’t even grow up together in this timeline and still ended up as a couple.”

Hamuko leaned on the arm of the couch, thinking everything over. “How did you deal with none of them remembering you?” she asked sadly. “That’s what’s killing me. I talked to Narukami-kun about this, too, but just...the fact that they look at me and there’s nothing that we shared there. It’s agonizing, because even though there’s things that’re the same, they didn’t _happen_ the same. Mitsuru-senpai didn’t catch the guys peeking on us in the hot springs in this world, and apparently no one _ever_ wore the battle panties into Tartarus. Which is kind of a crime…!” She huffed. “But the point is, I don’t know how to deal with my friends suddenly not knowing who I am. And I'm sick of crying when I see them because I can't stand them looking at me like I'm practically a stranger.”

“I’m sure Maki-chan’s told you, but it’s just something that comes with time. I didn’t have the time, because I met them again in the middle of a crisis, but afterwards… Being positive about it, it was almost like a gift,” Maya said. “I got to see them have happier lives, without any of the burdens or guilt from the first time around. There were none of the misunderstandings of our awkward childhoods. It’s a blessing especially that Jun doesn’t remember what happened. And I don’t see them often, because I don’t want to give them unnecessary opportunities to remember, but I check in every once in a while.” 

“Could I...talk to my friends about it, though?” Hamuko asked tentatively. “There’s nothing that will destroy the world if more people know, so if I were to tell them about things that happened in my world, so they would know where I was coming from... Do you think that would help? They already know that I’m from another timeline, so it wouldn’t be weird.”

Maya looked thoughtful. “It’s hard to say. You already know memories can be a pretty heavy burden. Telling your friends about how you remember them might help them understand why you’re so upset, and it might give you catharsis! But it might also put a burden on _them_ , to feel like they don’t live up to their other selves.” She smiled helplessly. “Kei-san and Eriko-chan were with us when we learned about the other timeline, but they chose not to tell their other friends the whole truth, because they didn't want to risk any more imbalances. We can never tell Tatsuya and the others, either. It’s a hard decision, and one that you have to make on your own, once you’ve considered all the effects it’ll have.”

“I dunno that I could put that on Akihiko-senpai and Mitsuru-senpai,” Hamuko said sadly. “They’re not really different from their other selves. It’s just the experiences that are different. I don’t want them to feel bad, or guilty, but...”

“But it upsets you, and that’s okay!” Maya assured her. “You’re not overreacting, or being selfish, or whatever you might be thinking. It takes time to adjust to a new reality when you have the luxury to think about it.”

Hamuko nodded, although she didn’t look completely convinced yet. She pulled her feet up onto the couch, looking at Maya curiously. “Can you tell me more about Tatsuya-san? The Velvet attendants don’t really talk about him; they just look sad if he gets mentioned.”

Maya grinned. “Oh, wow, where to start with Tatsuya-kun… He was special even by Wild Card standards. I’m pretty sure if he was still here, he’d give your brother a run for his money. Do you know, he could stop time?”

“What?!” Hamuko gasped. “Minato _definitely_ can’t do that.”

“Special,” Maya said with a comically serious nod. But then she continued, more subdued, “He went through more than any of us, I think. He was the only one to remember, for the longest time, and he tried to take it all on himself to make sure that this timeline didn’t turn out like the prior one. By the time I remembered everything and we learned the truth, he’d worn himself down to the breaking point.”

“That must be a Wild Card thing, too,” Hamuko said. “Minato and I would have tried to seal Nyx on our own, no matter the consequences, if Ryoji hadn’t stepped in.”

Maya smiled wryly. “Philemon sure knows how to pick people.”

They chatted for a while longer, Maya telling her embarrassing stories about both timelines’ versions of Tatsuya, and then Hamuko asked thoughtfully, “I wonder why Minato’s and my timeline split, though. You said that Philemon made a new one when the old one crashed, and he needed you to give up your memories. But ours just sort of happened.”

“If I had to take a guess?” Maya said. “Probably a whole combination of things, especially considering what Kei-san’s told me about what the Kirijo scientists were up to. Lingering instability in the fabric of reality from the crisis in Sumaru, _plus_ the Kirijo guys unleashing those arcana shadows basically a few weeks later before things could heal up properly, _plus_ two children with potential getting involved who Philemon then gifted with the Wild Card and the potential to reach the highest arcana… It’s really no wonder the world said, ‘I can’t handle two Universe-potential kids at once’ and stuck you in different timelines.”

“And now that we’re finally back in one, I’m not the Universe anymore, because my world ended,” Hamuko said with an exasperated smile. “One day I want to talk to Philemon and smack him, because all this angst could have been avoided if our timeline hadn’t split off like that. Or if he'd just picked one of us.”

Maya shook her head. “You wouldn’t be the first Wild Card to hit him.”

Hamuko gaped at her. “...Tatsuya-san?” When Maya just laughed, she cried exasperatedly, “But you said Philemon is basically a god, like Nyx. I was _joking!_ Is there _anything_ Tatsuya-san didn’t do?!”

“Not much.” Maya got to her feet, planting her hands on her hips. “Come on, I’m taking you out to an early dinner. We can keep talking on the way. What kind of food do you like? Peace Diner’s got some great burgers.”

“Um… I could definitely go for somewhere that has fries, so that sounds good!”

It was surprisingly comfortable talking to Maya now that everything had been laid out. They got dinner, talking all the while, sharing experiences and memories of their adventures. Maya took her around the city afterwards, introduced her to a police detective that was another of her former teammates, and showed her the shrine where everything had begun and ended. 

Hamuko allowed herself to entertain the thought, just briefly, that this was what having a mom might be like. Or an older sister.

At the very least, talking with Maya had given her a lot to think about. She felt better about all of it in general, knowing there was someone else out there who had been through what she had and still ended up happy in the end. And Maya had promised that she could call anytime if she needed to, no matter what. She couldn’t wait to tell Shinjiro. It was still going to take time, but she could at least look at it with a new mindset, now.

After all, in the end, they were still her friends. And that was the important part.

**Author's Note:**

> ARC WELDING. *waves blowtorch*
> 
> But no, in all seriousness, I wanted to get this written out, because I wanted to clarify a little more about who knows what and where and when, since I finished watching P2 after the Christmas chapter. And also just because I realized that Maya really is the best person for Hamuko to talk to, to help her recovery along. It still takes a few months, but being able to talk through it with someone who’s been there helped a lot.
> 
> ...everyone talks about Tatsuya like he's legendary or something and I swear I'm not doing it on purpose. X'''D


End file.
